Thune: U.S. must 'project strength'

Withdrawing troops from Iraq left it vulnerable, senator contends

U.S. Sen. John Thune speaks Monday at Callaway's Event Center during an event held by the Sioux Falls Area Chamber of Commerce. Thune says the U.S. should not be cutting back on military spending, given tension and threats to national security.(Photo: Jay Pickthorn / Argus Leader)

Sen. John Thune laid out an aggressive foreign policy Monday, calling on the United States to lead the rest of the world from a position of strength.

Speaking to a lunch gathering of Sioux Falls Area Chamber of Commerce members, Thune criticized reductions in defense spending and the 2011 withdrawal of all U.S. military forces from Iraq.

"The world is watching," Thune said. "They want to know if the United States can continue to assume the position it's held for decades past where we're the leader in the world, and the rest of the world follows, because we project American leadership."

The Republican senator said leaders in China, Russia and the Middle East are watching how the United States handles other threats for signs of "weakness."

"I think that America has to project strength," Thune said. "You've got a guy like Putin in Russia who wants to re-establish the Soviet Empire. If he's not confronted, he's not challenged, he's like a bully on the playground."

Muscle with words

Thune criticized President Obama for drawing a "red line" about Syria's use of chemical weapons but not following through when Syria used them.

"I'm afraid that the world doesn't think we mean business and doesn't think that we're serious," Thune said.

Speaking of the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, Thune put some of the blame on the 2011 withdrawal of U.S. troops. That followed a treaty signed by President George W. Bush and executed by Obama.

"I can't help but think that if the president had left a residual force there, 10,000 people, whatever, it would have been a deterrent to what's going on there today," Thune said.

Military spending

He also expressed doubt about reducing American military spending.

"It's probably a really bad time, if you look at what's happening around the world, to talk about not properly and appropriately funding national security," Thune said.

Thune didn't explicitly advocate for military intervention.

"I'm not one who believes that every place you've got a hotspot in the world, you've got to put American personnel and manpower there on the ground," Thune said.

But he said it should be a foreign policy tool.

"Whether the American leadership is in the form ... of actual military capability, or whether it's American power projected in other forms — economic power, diplomatic power — America's got to be in these discussions," Thune said.

The four men seeking to join Thune in the Senate run the gamut on foreign policy.

MIKE ROUNDS: The fellow Republican strikes of the same notes, saying countries "respect a strong military force." He criticized Obama for sending a "weak and inconsistent foreign policy message." But Rounds put more of an emphasis on caution, saying he "would be very restrictive in the use of our military assets" and highlighting "business relationships with as many countries as possible" to maximize America's foreign policy influence, along with a strong military.

GORDON HOWIE: The independent said the U.S. is a "nation at risk" and "must remain a strong world power to defend freedom." Topping Howie's priority list was supporting "our allies in their efforts to fight terrorism and aggression." Howie specifically cited Ukraine and Israel as allies in need of support.

RICK WEILAND: He warned against the U.S. trying to become a "policeman" for the world said we should "consider the lessons of America's long involvement in Iraq" about the difficulty of building "stable democracies in regions conflicted by centuries-old religious differences." He said the U.S. should work with "regional stakeholders" and "reliable and capable partners" to destroy the ability of "terrorist networks" to "wage terror against the United States."

LARRY PRESSLER: Like Weiland, the indepedent said the U.S. should not try to be the world's policeman. He said he supports "drastically reducing our overseas military forces and foreign military spending" and said he would oppose wars such as Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. A modernized, shrunken military still pursue an "active foreign policy," he said. Pressler specifically cited the withdrawing soldiers from Iraq in 2011 as a good policy decision.